What are your resolutions for 2018? I’m really hopeful this year will be just as blessed as last year, maybe even more. I love hearing how positive people are near the beginning of the new year. Friends and family looking forward to starting fresh and doing something great for themselves warms my tender heart, but I don’t make resolutions myself.

I do try to make changes for the better, but I generally make an attempt to do it all year long. What I do in the New Year is think about the year before. I think of all the things I felt like were going poorly or maybe decisions I made that turned sour, and I play the glad game. The glad game is how I find the good in bad situations. See, in looking at the year before, I can plainly see how each bad thing that came my way either turned out to be a blessing in disguise, or a life lesson perhaps. Sometimes I am only able to see it and realize I survived. I really love the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Why do I think about the past instead of looking at my future? Because there is a lot to learn from the past. If I was able to get through the year despite the hardships that crossed my path, then I can conquer my future a little easier. If the focus is to find the silver lining in the cloudy skies, each difficult situation God throws at me becomes easier and easier. Every little obstacle is handled with more grace and more grace means happier days. It is my opinion that playing the glad game is the secret to a happier life.

Although I don’t make resolutions, I do make a little list of the habits I’d like to change going forward. Sometimes I make the list knowing it will take longer than a year to get it all done, and sometimes I make it knowing I want to add more later. I’ve changed who I am and who I am working on becoming so much in the past, I know my list is also ever changing. At this time last year I was working on being a better wife and not losing my temper at a drop of a hat. I can confidently attest to the fact I am a gentler person and a more loving wife and mother. I also had on my list to master the art of making bread. It is definitely NOT mastered, but I am not scared to make it on any given day. I’m also confident enough to serve it to guests so I’m growing there too. Some days it really is the little things.

I want to encourage you to make a list of habits you want to break, better yet, focus on the good and make a list of the habits you want to form. Start small and gradually add to it when you’re good and ready. Hard part coming up: Keep to it even when you think someone doesn’t agree, or doesn’t get it, or tries to pull you back to your “old” ways. Pretend to be confident at first, pretend you know what you’re doing. Above all, especially when these new habits start weighing on you for whatever reason, ask God to point you in the right direction. Ask him to guide you to do whatever His will may be.

Happy New Year friends! May you be blessed with joy and love and God’s mercy!